Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel said credit needs to be given to the management of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for allowing Australia’s Glenn Maxwell to play the way he wants to. He added that Maxwell is more likely to flourish when allowed to play freely.
In his first season with the Virat Kohli-led side, Maxwell has scored 223 runs in seven matches at an average of 37.16 and strike rate of 144.80, including two half-centuries.
“I think there are certain players; they flourish in a certain atmosphere. I think, sometimes, you do not put a lot of pressure on them; you just allow that player to be what they are, and sometimes that makes a big difference to the player psyche. I think you will have to give a pat on the back to RCB’s management here,” said Patel on Game Plan show on Star Sports
“Glenn Maxwell, we all know what he could do, but then to allow him to be what he is and just be as free as possible. So, you will have to give the credit to RCB’s team management here for allowing him to play the way he wants to,” added Patel.
Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir went on to explain why RCB haven’t won an IPL title yet. The franchise has been runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016 editions of the tournament. Last season, they came into the play-offs but crashed out in the eliminator.
“He’s (Virat) got people like AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, which is a huge cushion to have. Even if it’s not Maxwell, AB is a massive cushion because there is only one person who can take on someone like Jasprit Bumrah and it was AB de Villiers. I have not seen anyone else who has done it that consistently against Jasprit Bumrah, but AB is a freak. But yes obviously, from Virat’s standard they would want to go out and dominate the opposition, especially in the IPL,” said Gambhir.
“There’s international cricket where you’ve got 5 or 6 top international bowlers, you don’t have that in the IPL. You probably get 2 or 3 international bowlers and then you’ve got domestic bowlers as well, whom you could dominate. So, probably there’s a lot of pressure on Virat and AB as well, which could be one of the reasons and year after year, if you don’t win that title the pressure keeps on increasing as well,” concluded Gambhir, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to IPL titles in 2012 and 2014.
